Everyone Roger “Doger”: Al Volk and the LaJeunesse Bomber Crew 1943 – 1945

In 1943, young men from high schools, farms, and factories across America found themselves in the crosshairs of world events, waiting for their call to arms as World War II raged in Europe. Tens of thousands volunteered for service in the Army Air Forces as pilots, navigators, bombardiers, and gunners on massive four engine bombers that mercilessly delivered their payloads on targets in Nazi Germany and occupied countries. Very few had even been in an airplane before, but a rigorous U.S. Army training program made them combat-ready in less than a year. Al Volk, a 19 year-old high school graduate from Pittsburgh, was one of those boys, joining pilot Robert J. LaJeunesse’s crew to fly 32 combat missions in a B-24 bomber from an air base near the small town of Horsham St. Faith, England.

“Everyone Roger ‘Doger’” is a detailed and personal account of a single bomber crew flying missions with the Eighth Air Force over Germany late in the war. Eric Volk, Al’s son, tells their story based on his father’s personal diary notes about their missions, where each entry ends with those words, a nod to their safe return every time from enemy skies. Declassified mission reports reveal the purpose, details, and outcomes of each sortie, and excerpts from letters home to his parents provide intimate perspective on his father’s time in basic training, gunnery school, combat training, and in the hot seat fighting the air war over Nazi Germany